Enugu—THERE was commotion in Enugu yesterday as agents of the State Waste Management Authority, ESWAMA, and officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, engaged themselves in a free-for-all over alleged refusal of the latter to pay sanitation levy.
The confusion degenerated to the point where the administration officer of the Federal Inland Revenue, Mr. Patrick Okpala, was bundled away to the office of the Waste Management Authority after a heated argument.
Apart from arrest of the FIRS officer, several business operators and residents in Enugu metropolis were also arrested at about noon for a similar offence.
During the scuffle, the operational vehicle of the waste management agents, a commercial bus with number plate, Abuja; XK788 AS, had its windscreen smashed in the process.
Our reporter gathered that many officials of the FIRS in efforts to resist arrest of their boss, stormed the head office of ESWAMA, near the state’s secretariat complex, ostensibly to get him out but that led to the arrest of the invading FIRS officials.
As at the time of this report, Mr. Okpala and other offenders were still being held.
The altercation between other senior officials of the FIRS and some waste management authority agents got messier as both parties got involved in fisticuffs.
Managing Director of ESWAMA, Thelma Ogakwu, was saddled with containing the situation and could not be reached for comments.
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